Suzuki Launch

Suzuki Launch:

3 new modelsfor 2024

Words: Glenn Foley, Sean Hendley

Pics: Deon vdl

Suzuki South Africa has just launched, not 1, not 2 but 3 brand new bikes for 2024.We were invited to meet them and ride them at the Red Star track and simply put, it was a great day for sure!

It’s awesome to see how much effort Suzuki is putting into getting the brand out there. The team are motorcyclists who understand the importance of bums in saddles. To sweeten the pot, they brought along their entire model lineup to ride, from the mighty Hayabusa, down to their smallest scooter.

How cool is that?

The New Suzuki’s:

3 new Suzuki’s were presented on the day:

The MCN nominated Bike Of The Year, the GSXS-8s
The Adventure version of the same, the DL800-De
And the baby V- Strom 250SX.

We hear you say:

But the bikes are already in stores – and internationally, the bikes have been available for some time. And you’d be correct. In fact, in the SA Market, the 250 is one of the best selling bikes in town. The fact is that there was such demand for the bike, that only now, they have one available as a demo model. Good things come to those who wait. The other two models needed to be homologated (Approved by government) before Suzuki is allowed to bring them to market. This is true to all new models brought into SA.

The Ride:

It was all pretty informal, just the way we like it, with a presentation of each model and a chat about bikes in general. Notes were taken, highlights pointed out and then it was time to ride.

From the presentation, we were pointed in the direction of the track – Road riders kitted up and took the GSX-8S for lots of laps around the RedStar course.

Adventure riders were pointed into the surrounding farmlands for a very well thought out lap or six on Suzuki’s 3 adventure models. Yes the latest DL 1050 was along too.

You can read more about the GSX8-S here.

For Dirt And Trail, we’ll focus on the DL’s

Dual Purpose:

Fact, the DL’s are perfect for the road. A yardstick for this is the amount of adventure riders who never take their machines off-road, but who enjoy the creature comforts that an ADV bike has on offer. So Redstar was a good idea. A lekker twisty road track with a really well thought out (short) gravel loop, complete with a groot quarry to play in. Suzuki gave us the DL250 and the new 800 to play with.

Lets kick off with the new Suzuki DL 800S:

R195 000

The V-Strom 800DE is the second of two bikes alongside the 2023 GS X-8-S to get Suzuki’s brand new 776cc parallel twin engine.

First question. Will this bike replace the DL650?

The short answer is no. The 650 is still being built, and Suzuki is quick to point out that while the 650 is better on the road, the new 800 is definitely more dirt oriented.

Suzuki took some notes on building a true blue offroader before this bike went into production. 21 inch front wheel. 17 inch rear. Big tank. Cool little screen. Fully adjustable Showa 220mm travel suspension, and 220mm ground clearance. The frame comes with a removable rear subframe. Nice touch. Should be mandatory on ADV machines.

Ladies and Gents, if you are keen on a mid range really dirt capable adventure then this is absolutely one bike that you have to look at. At first glance, it’s small, compact and built for business. Suzuki very kindly decided to fit a locally manufactured Vykon Slip-On exhaust. They also fitted some more aggressive Michelin tyres.

Styling harks back to Dr Big days. Check the new LED Headlights. Suzuki is onto something with their quirky styling. We love it!

In terms of electronics, the 800DE is well spec’d. It gets five levels of traction control (3 levels, off, and a Gravel-mode for off-road riding that permits a specific amount of wheelspin before controlling tyre slip), and three levels of throttle response.

ABS can be turned off at the back wheel for off-road riding. There’s also that bi-directional quick shifter and Suzuki’s easy-start system with a low-rpm assist, which helps to prevent stalling when you are creeping through the donga’s.

We can think of a couple of bikes that could use this feature.

You get a USB Charging port and the bike comes with the same (slightly smaller) TFT dash as the 1050DE and GSX-S1000 – bright, crisp, nicely coloured and easy to read – and the same switchgear, with a rocker and mode button handling most of the inputs. There’s no cruise control.

The Suzuki V-Strom 800 DE’s spec level is impressive and you get all the groceries for the asking price. This includes adjustable throttle, traction control and ABS modes, TFT dash and handguards.

And there are lots of optional extra goodies on the way…

The Suzuki DL 800 s weighs in at 230 kg claimed wet weight – that’s not bad if you consider that it includes a full 20-litre fuel tank.

Engine:

The six – speed 776 cc engine is new. It’s a DOHC, parallel twin with four valves per cylinder that features a long-stroke configuration.The engine features a 270° crankshaft design, designed, they say, to deliver a smooth ride with lots of torque.

For tech geeks:

Suzuki has developed a twin balance shaft layout for this engine, with one for each cylinder running at 90° to each other in front and below the crankshaft. Most other parallel twins have a single shaft with the counterweights for both piston assemblies on it. The inclusion of an up and down quickshifter is a great addition.The 2023 Suzuki DL800-S is said to produce 82 horsepower at 8,500 rpm, with 57.5 pound-feet of torque topping out at 6,800 rpm. Redline cuts in at 9,250 rpm. On paper, this means that the DE’s got enough grunt to comfortably break any speed limit you like on the road, but 83BHP should make it easy in the dirt.

The Ride:

To be fair, we only had a very short ride. But it was a lekker one, and we’ll get this bike back soon for a proper adventure soon.

Here’s What Sean had to say.

I managed to scragg a short ride on this bike a few months ago when it was being toured around the country’s Suzuki dealerships and was completely intrigued at the ergonomics, feedback and feel it gave me. From there on in I gleaned any information I could over the ensuing months until we got a proper ride on one. From all the international reviews on YouTube to any article on any website I could find, all without fail sing this machine’s praises and rate it as one of the best newcomers to the market in many a year. This only served to increase my lust to ride this machine myself, so when the invitation was finally extended by Suzuki SA I responded with a resounding YES – only to discover that we were going to be poking around the bush behind RSR – a short ride, but we got to ride it anyway and that was a treat.

Suzuki SA has employed a proper off road and adventure specialist to their ranks and he set out a proper course to test this bikes capabilities in the shortest space of time.

We will be getting one in a few weeks for a proper test and review, but this is what I can tell you for now:

It is well kitted out for the price, which is super competitive in this market as it is, with quickshifter, hand guards, rear carry rack and factory bash plate as standard features along with switchable ABS, power modes with different degrees of traction control, and…. They all work brilliantly.
The electronics are subtle yet very effective, I first went out on the bike with the standard exhaust and tyres. The track was incredibly twisty and sandy and I overcooked it into a right hand corner and clamped on the front brakes in a bit of a panic which only served to exacerbate the situation and tuck the front wheel in even tighter – a rookie mistake I know, but the electronics realised I was in trouble the front ABS kicked in releasing the front wheel in the nick of time and I managed to power out, stepping the rear wheel out a bit and looking cool in the process – Gravel mode is flippen excellent!
The motor is equally as good with brilliant low down torque and really comes into its own in the technical stuff, easily negotiating steep, sandy, tight and twisty climbs in the quarry. Hitting the open trails I did a couple of power and top end runs. The 800DE pulls all the way off the mark to as fast as I dared go on the short track, which was somewhere in the late hundreds.
The suspension is supple yet balanced, and worked an absolute treat in the conditions we were riding, we will give it a proper test in rougher stuff in the next few weeks.

I did a few laps around the Redstar track and it was fun. I am told it is quite a treat to ride out on the road and through mountain passes, so we will reserve judgement until we get a bit of road time on it. Just a side note…. A thought or a feeling I need to explore more, the front wheel did seem to get noticeably light under acceleration.

I dunno if it is due to the suspension setup versus my bulk or the 17 inch rear wheel…. Or both, or whether I was just imagining it.

The ergo’s are really decent, even for my 115kg, 2 metre chassis with a very comfortable rider triangle both sitting and standing, nice wide and tallish handlebars and what seems to be a good weight balance overall.

I am seriously keen to do a bit of adventure touring on this machine. Hopefully we get to ride one soon again, demand seems to be outstripping supply – a great problem to have…

The DL 250: Easy Peezy.

R58950.00

See the title? Easy Peezy?

That’s what this little adventure bike is actually all about.

The V-Strom 250 is made by Suzuki India which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Suzuki Japan. Suzuki is a force in India. Production numbers are insane. We are told that the engine plant produced its six millionth engine earlier this year.

Six million. That’s pretty big. As a result of that volume and of course the exchange rate – the baby V-Strom is really great value for money.

The addition of the 250SX means there are now four capacities available in the V-Strom family, the 1050, 800, 650 and the 250, so – there’s a bike in the lineup for just about everyone.

The 250 SX, is based on the GSX250R road platform, but with adventure changes like that the front beak and a 19-inch front wheel and longer travel suspension that increases the ground clearance and gives a softer ride.

The DL250SX has cast wheels and an 835 mm seat height. Tech is limited to a USB charger and dual-channel ABS. It has LED lighting and is available in two paint jobs:

Pearl Blaze Orange or the company’s signature Suzuki Champion Yellow.

The smallest sibling in the V-Strom family runs an oil-cooled single-cylinder that makes a solid 26 horsepower. The Gixxer engine is wrapped in a 167 kg chassis (wet) and just look at it. You can tell that it’s a V-strom. It’s aimed as an entry level adventure, however, we know that more than a couple have been sold as commercial bikes. It’s good looking, light, low, slim, simple and comfortable. Easy to get on, ride, and learn the ropes.We rode it on the track and in the dirt, but we need to get it into the city too.

Sean shares his thoughts:

I have heard so many good comments about this little bike from so many different sources and was quite interested to swing a leg over it. My primary concern as with every small bike was its diminutive size in relation to my bulk, and to be honest that did come into play a little bit in the quarry. My weight distribution sitting down was fine, but standing up, I was awkwardly hunched over the handlebars in a semi crouched position putting too much weight over the front wheel and my line of sight compromised by my butt being almost level with my head, that being said I was able to bang it around the quarry successfully, but wasn’t really that comfortable doing it.

I did however notice that despite my 115KG weight, the suspension did not bottom out throughout the ride…

As a taller person, 2 metres tall, this is not an adventure bike to consider, but rather a really cool little fuel saving commuter that you can happily trundle down a dirt road on, and to give this bike a fairer review we have given it to our newest team member with the correct length torso that this bike was designed for for a week. You can read his opinions soon.

Sticking it on the race track was a completely different story though, reaffirming my last comment on the 250SX. I was surprised at how much fun it was to rev its brains out through the gears and barely have to touch the brakes tilting into the corners and how well it carried itself through the corner.

Eventually I was pushing harder and harder and could really feel it railing beautifully through even the tightest bends with the suspension soaking up all the bumps and lumps without kicking the heck out of my kidneys or the bike getting squirly.

Yeah, it isn’t going to win any speed records, but for a little single cylinder four stroke mill it did itself proud. I can understand why they are selling like sweet cakes around the world and here in SA.